Iceland's Solstafir has issued the following statement about parting ways with dummer Gummi Óli Palmasson:

"It is with great pain but quiet respect, that we are making this official statement to inform you that for personal reasons beyond reconciliation, Sólstafir and Guðmundur "Gummi" Óli Palmasson have parted ways indefinitely.

"There are always two sides to every story. No one knows the whole story other than those directly involved. As is the case in any relationship, all parties play their roles in creating and ending it. Both parties have their versions, and often at times, the point gets lost along the way, buried in emotions.

"The bottom line is, Guðmundur is no longer in the band, because of a deep personal conflict that involves all three remaining members and cannot be solved. He is well aware of this.

"The decision to part ways was absolutely not something that happened overnight, and we are genuinely pained by the way things have turned out. If the three of us had felt there was any way of mending the damage and moving forward with Guðmundur, then of course we would have - and we did make genuine efforts to do so. That is the reason for our silence. Waiting so long to make a statement was wrong on our part, and for that, we apologize. There are so many personal levels to this split. It has been very difficult to find the words while still respecting our individual privacy, Guðmundur's included.

"Despite what we have read that appears to have been written in anger, bitterness, and seemingly spite, we continue to hold no ill will toward Guðmundur and sincerely want to thank him for all of his hard work and being such a huge part of the band for all these years. We acknowledge this fact every day and of course, he will receive his fair share. There was never any intention not to do this. We will never forget his role in Sólstafir, which is why we remain silent about the reasons now and in the future. We can only hope you respect and understand this. Sólstafir will continue as a three piece with a session percussionist, just as we have since January of this year. We hope to see you all on the road and can only ask for your continued support."

The statement mentioned above from Gummi reads as follows (and get ready for a Wintersun length read folks): More...

Enigmatic Icelandic rock band Solstafir has announced upcoming European tour dates, joining Mono and The Ocean for an extensive trek. A full list of confirmed tour dates can be found below. Solstafir is touring in support of new album "Otta."

Enigmatic Icelandic band Solstafgir has announced a headlining North American tour, with support from Ancient VVisdom. The month-long tour kicks off April 22nd, and a full list of confirmed tour dates can be found below.

Iceland's Solstafir has announced that regular drummer, Guðmundur "Gummi" Óli Pálmason, will not be performing during upcoming shows. He will be replaced by Karl Petur Smith during this period. The group comments:

"Today we're in Milton Keynes ready to kick off the second leg of our European tour. It is with great sadness that we need to report to you that Gummi will not be joining us on this tour due to personal reasons.

"We'd prefer to leave it at that and ask that you please respect our privacy in this matter and refrain from all questions, speculations and internet rumors. We will follow up when the time is right, but for now, we're very excited to have a brilliant drummer by the name of Karl Petur Smith joining us for these shows.

"His extensive musical background includes playing with such acts as Rusty Anderson, Jason Falkner and Bubbi Morthens. Can't wait to see all of your faces out there!"

Solstafir will not comment further on the topic during this ongoing tour. All remaining dates can be viewed below: More...

Roadburn Festival is pleased to announce new additions to the 20th edition of the festival. The festival will take place April 9th - 12th in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Both day tickets and weekend tickets are currently on sale.

Roadburn 2015's curators - Wardruna's Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik and Enslaved's Ivar Bjørnson - have almost completed the lineup for their event on Friday April 10th. Loop main man, Robert Hampson and Swedish psych heroes, Agusa will both perform alongside Focus, Death Hawks, Sólstafir and others.

BardSpec - the ambient project/band from Enslaved composer/guitarist Ivar - will also perform at the event. Einar will present a workshop which will delve into his approach to music and the extensive creative concept behind Wardruna's ongoing "Runaljod" trilogy as well as his approach and study of the runes and other Norse esoteric arts. He will demonstrate a selection of the oldest Nordic instruments, play fully acoustic Wardruna music, and there will also be time for questions from the audience. More...

Footage has been posted online of Solstafir's KEXP radio session, which can be viewed below. The performance was shot in Seattle during the eclectic Icelandic rockers’ recent U.S. tour in December 2014.

The radio station enthusiastically comments: "When Solstafir plays for KEXP, the gods take notice. Two years ago, during KEXP’s broadcast at Iceland Airwaves, hurricane-level gales swept across Reykjavik as the hard rocking band brewed up their own storm inside Kex Hostel. Last month, on their first tour of the West Coast, heavy winds followed them to the KEXP studio to perform songs from their latest LP of epic grandeur, Ótta. Call it what you will – 'viking post-metal', 'alt-doom', 'death-prog' – but Solstafir channel power of mythic proportions in this live set."

Iceland's Solstafir will be touring solidly now through February, today announcing new European tour dates in early 2015.

Starting on January 27th, the band will trek throughout the France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and more in support of new album, "Otta" (reviewed here). The album is streaming in full below. More...

Unioni Festival was a new occurrence this year, and this mini festival quickly became the most anticipated even of the autumn calendar in Helsinki. People came from all over Europe, and even as far as Los Angeles to catch the amazing lineup these two days boasted. Livenation has really outdone themselves this time around, and with both nights of the long anticipated Unioni festival sold out, they’d do well to be patting themselves on the back! More...

Solstafir today premieres a new music video for the track "Lágnætti," available below courtesy of AllMusic.com.

"Lágnætti" is taken from the band's new album "Ótta" (reviewed here). Regarding the Bowen Staines-directed video, the band comments:

"It is with great pride and excitement, that we present to you the new video for our song 'Lágnætti'. The video was directed by the same directing team of Bowen Staines and Gunnar B. 'Gussi' Guðbjörnsson, who brought you the amazing Fjara video 3 years ago, so the standard was already set sky high. But it is our belief that we have outdone ourselves, with the help of the good people from Hólmavík and Kollafjörður in the West Fjords of Iceland. Enjoy!" More...

Icelandic rock heathens Solstafir have announced a new North American tour, which starts on December 2nd and will see the band travel throughout the country for 2 weeks alongside Pallbearer and Mortals.

This trek will be in support of new album "Ótta" (reviewed here), and also still available for streaming in full at this location.

Additionally, Solstafir just announced the band's inclusion into Roadburn's 2015 lineup, with front-man Aðalbjörn Tryggvason commenting: "We are deeply honored to have been chosen by the curators and invited by the festival. Having two Icelandic bands at the same night next to The Fields of Nephilim – what a surprise and a priceless evening. What a festival! It will be a highlight of our career!" More...

Footage has been posted online for genre-bending Icelandic act Solstafir performing the title track to new album "Ótta" (reviewed here). Check it out below, and the band also comments:

"Check out this multi camera recording from one of the strangest venues we played. The stage was a port of a large hunting cabin in the Austrian Alps, facing the audience up in the hill. What an amazing atmosphere!"

To hear the studio version of the title track and more, check out the full album stream over at this location.

English stoner rock band Orange Goblin is the latest name to be added to the 10th anniversary Damnation Festival bill.

Orange Gobline will be joined by black metal quartet Winterfylleth and post-punk outfit October File, with both bands airing material from new albums at Leeds University Union on Saturday, November 1st.

The trio of new additions bolster an impressively eclectic line-up which already boasts Bolt Thrower's only U.K. appearance, a Cannibal Corpse headline set and St. Vitus performing "Born Too Late" in full.

Orange Goblin said: "Over the last few years, Damnation has cemented itself into one of the UK's leading metal festivals, so it is a great honour to be asked back to play for a second time."It is already a great line up of bands, and we can't wait to be part of it."

Winterfylleth added: "We are proud to announce we will be playing Damnation Festival once again in 2014. The response we had in 2012 was mind blowing and we hope to see you all there once again. Damnation is a festival we always attend as fans regardless of playing and a must for all serious metal fans. We have a new album out a few weeks before the festival, so will be playing some exclusive new material for the first time on the day.”

October File also comments: "We are over the moon to be playing what is becoming one of the most important and special events in the UK. Damnation has worked hard to forge a name that is a must for fans and underground talent."

Icelandic rock act Solstafir has premiered the new song "Dagmál" via Rock Hard Germany's website at this location (also in the player below). The song appears on the upcoming new album "Ótta" which drops on September 2nd in North America (August 29th worldwide) via Season of Mist Records.

The Icelandic heathens in Sosltafir are streaming footage taken from their recent performance as part of this year's Hellfest lineup.

The performance, which shows the band playing tracks from 2011's "Svartir Sandar" and forthcoming album "Ótta," can be watched at this location.

Sosltafir also recently announced a headlining European tour. The tour, which starts on October 28th, will see the band travel through Ireland, England, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary and more before concluding on November 22nd.

The trek will see Solstafir make a stop at this year's Damnation Festival in Leeds, where the band will play alongside labelmates Saint Vitus, Corrupt Moral Altar, and Hark. A full list of confirmed tour dates can be found below. More...

Solstafir has announced a headlining European tour, which starts on October 28th will see the band travel through Ireland, England, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, and more before concluding on November 22nd.

The trek will see Solstafir make a stop at this year's Damnation Festival in Leeds, and a full list of confirmed tour dates can be found below. The Icelandic band will be touring in support of forthcoming new album "Ótta," due out September 2nd. More...

As was the case in 2013, the 2014 installment of the Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium will have a live feed over this weekend (June 27th-June 29th). The feed can be accessed over at this location.

Not all bands are participating in the live feed, and the feed is subject to change at any time, with full live shows and partial live feeds throughout. Bands that will not be broadcast are: Ghost, Annihilator, Limp Bizkit and Black Sabbath. Make sure you check the schedule regularly at the bottom of the feed page for the status of the live stream (green check is full live stream, question mark is "unknown," green/red circle with slash is partial streaming and the red "x" is no stream).

As of press time, the bands scheduled for live streaming are as follows:

The organizers of the Damnation Festival have checked in with the following announcement about Ahab performing at this year's edition:

"German doom titans, Ahab, and Icelandic progressive metal outfit, Solstafir are the latest names to be added to the tenth edition of Damnation Festival. The headline set will be an exclusive UK performance by Ahab and the first the band have played outside London."

Ahab adds: "We’re delighted to celebrate our 10-year anniversary with the only Ahab UK Show 2014 at Damnation Festival. Headlining the doom stage is an honour and a great birthday present for us!"